Two PTI social media activists have returned home, SHC told

KARACHI: Two social media activists of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf who went missing on March 26 have been returned home, the Sindh High Court was told on Thursday.

The court was hearing identical petitions with regard to the disappearance of three PTI social media activists — Mohammad Arshad Siddiqui, Mudasir Rehman and Fahad Jamal Siddiqui — from different parts of Karachi.

The counsel for the petitioners submitted that Arshad Siddiqui and Mudasir Rehman had returned home, while the whereabouts of Fahad Jamal were still unknown. The counsel said the SHO of the Aziz Bhatti police station had refused to register an FIR about the disappearance of Jamal.

The SHO however undertook before the court that as soon as the petitioner approached the police station and record her statement. the police would register an FIR and investigate.

A division bench, headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, directed the police to record the statement of the petitioner and initiate action as per the law if cognizable offence was made out. The court disposed of the petitions of two other PTI activists after the statements of their counsel.

In the enforced disappearance case of Sindhi nationalist party activist and his son, the court directed the DIG investigation to appear and explain the efforts being taken for their recovery.Petitioner Bashiran submitted that her spouse Pathan Zohrani was picked up on November 11, 2019 and her son Irfan Zohrani was picked up by personnel of law enforcement agencies on January 23, 2023 and their whereabouts were still unknown.The court observed that there were allegations against law enforcement agencies, and despite holding several joint investigation teams’ sessions, no clue was found to ascertain the whereabouts of the detainees. The investigation officer sought further time to collect reports from internment centres of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and all other departments of federal and provincial law enforcement agencies.